Thanks to everyone who took the time to read Chapter 1! Special thanks go out to all of you who took the time to post a review, I always appreciate feedback.
Standard Disclaimer – Ranma ½ isn't mine…And To correct my error from Chapter 1…Ranma ½ is copyright Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan…Not Viz…whoops…
Without further ado, on with the show…
Hidden Depths – Chapter 2: Rising Tide
It's been a really long day. I find myself missing her again, for what seems to be the millionth time since everything happened. Somehow she always brightened my day by just being there. It's a shame what happened, at least for me. Sometimes I think I lost the most out of everyone, but I know it's the self pity talking. I know she's happier for the change, and admittedly I'm happy for her, but I miss my friend. It's a selfish thing, I know, but I guess I just want another friendly face that I know is there just for me. Someone who'll tell me if I'm doing the right thing, or just being an idiot.
-- --
The Tendo home on an average morning was a very loud, active place. The Saotome's, during their stay with the Tendos, had acted as a very effective alarm clock for most of the neighborhood. Suffice to say earplug sales in this particular stretch of Nerima had skyrocketed shortly after they arrived. The surprising part of the whole situation was Genma Saotome's involvement in it. The man was well known as an idiotic, lazy oaf, and more specifically as an oaf who had been getting regularly trounced by his son during their morning spar for most of the last year. One would think that he might ease up a bit on the training regime, but perhaps that would be giving Genma a bit too much credit. Right now however, he had his currently female son on the ropes for a change thanks to a series of literally dirty tricks.
"Pop…If ya sling one more bucket o' mud at me they'll be usin' those buckets ta drag your sorry ass down ta Doc Tofu", Ranma growled.
"If you can't handle a little mud while training, you're no better than a weak girl", the elder Saotome replied, defying the boundaries of his self-preservation instinct.
Something in the redhead's eyes shifted and faster than the eye could follow she had covered the distance between herself and her father. Her foot lashed out at the portly martial artist and for the space of a two heartbeats blurred. To the casual observer, this seemed fairly average for the two cursed martial artists. The residents of the Tendo home however, knew something was very different. As Ranma's foot struck out at his/her father, loud cracks could be heard ringing out in machine gun fashion. Then, all at once, motion ceased leaving a dainty foot hanging in midair and the elder Saotome looking like a fish out of water.
Ranma smirked nastily, "Weak girl huh? How's those ribs feelin' Pop?"
Tears could be seen leaking from Genma's eyes, but not a sound escaped from his lips. The look on his face however bespoke the immense pain he was suffering.
"Nabiki! Call Doctor Tofu, quickly!" Soun shouted as he dashed out to his friend's side.
Ranma seemed to casually walk past the whole fiasco, though the smirk on her face had been replaced with a troubled frown. 'Why'd I just go all out on him? I mean, it's not like he came up with anything original. I've been hearin' that weak girl crap my whole life…but…' As she stepped up on the porch, she turned around slowly to survey her handiwork and the realization of what had just happened finally sunk in. Slowly, Ranma sank to her knees and couldn't stop the tears as she looked upon what she had done to her father.
The Tendo family members present collectively blinked. This wasn't part of the script. She should be taunting him more right about now not…crying? Soun was speechless, and for once not wailing about the perceived tragedies in his life. Akane was taken aback by the situation; her mind warred with her heart over pounding Ranma for such a violent attack, and enveloping her, currently female, fiancé in an embrace to try to calm her. Kasumi was trying to tend to the elder Saotome as best she could, but internally she was worried for Ranma.
Nabiki returned to the porch after calling Doctor Tofu, "He's on his way. Kasumi, you might want to go find Auntie Nodoka."
"Of course Nabiki-chan. Otousan, you'll need to help Mr. Saotome stay on his feet", replied Kasumi as she prepared to leave.
Soun nodded to Kasumi and gingerly kept his old friend upright.
As Kasumi walked past Ranma, she surveyed the pain on the girl's muddy face and for a heartbreaking instant thought that Ranma had finally been broken beyond hope of repair.
"P…Pop?"
Genma's pain filled gaze fell onto his son turned daughter. He found he couldn't tear his eyes away from the guilt and remorse lurking in her stormy blue eyes. Some part of him took comfort in knowing that his child still cared for him, but another, far larger, and significantly less intelligent part of him felt even more justified for calling his son a weak, useless girl. 'Foolish boy! Throwing away everything I've taught you! Bah, you should just marry Soun and unite the schools that way!' Genma blinked at that thought, 'Hmm…that might be a way to force the boy to finally marry Akane. Trap him into it with the threat that if he doesn't, then my daughter will be forced to marry Soun to uphold the honor pact.' Of course those plans would have to wait until he healed some. Breathing hurt an awful lot right now.
When Ranma had spoken, she also drew the Tendo patriarch's attention. Soun had a wealth of experience with anguish, and could read the girl's face clearly. There was much pain evident in those eyes, pain which he understood only too well. 'Saotome has gone too far. I want the schools joined but…is it really worth this?' A sympathetic gaze settled on his features as he watched Akane move over and try to console the now hiccupping redhead. 'They are so good for each other, at least they are when the world is against them' Soun thought somewhat sourly.
Nabiki sat down on the porch and mentally replayed this morning's happenings. Ranma had snapped, and attacked the elder Saotome viciously with seemingly little cause. 'That's not like Ranma. So why did it trigger that kind of reaction?' She was puzzling out the possibilities when Tofu arrived with an ambulance crew. 'Genma should consider himself lucky…Then again, when Auntie Nodoka hears the whole story about the training trip…' Nabiki snickered to herself as she watched the EMT's load Genma's rotund personage onto a stretcher and wheel him out to the ambulance.
Tofu walked back over to where Soun was looking on, "Tendo-san, this is pretty severe. Most of the ribs on Saotome-san's right side appear to be fractured in multiple locations. I'm amazed he was still conscious considering the level of trauma suffered."
Soun winced hearing this, though he had suspected it would be the case.
Tofu continued, "The only good news out of this is, for the moment, there doesn't appear to be any internal bleeding. We'll be taking him to Nerima General for x-rays and general care."
Nodding in response, "Thank you Tofu-sensei, we'll be at the hospital as soon as Saotome's wife arrives", Soun replied.
As he was leaving Tofu stole a glance at Ranma, and worried at what he saw.
-- --
Sitting in Genma's hospital room provided Nodoka with quite a lot of time to ponder the situation her husband had placed Ranma in. She had feared something like this would occur for quite some time now. After hearing about what her son endured on a regular basis from Kasumi and Nabiki, Nodoka Saotome gave up on her concept of having a man among men for a son. When she heard about some of the highlights of his ten year training trip, she considered herself fortunate to still have a child. Now it seemed that her husband was trying to surpass his previous stupidity, and was succeeding admirably. After watching the video of the fight that landed her husband in the hospital, she was more convinced that she needed to get Ranma out of Nerima and away from his father. She shuddered remembering the visage of her child in that video. It was terrifying to think that Ranma had been pushed so far, but given what she had seen only a few days before with the footrace of doom, she could understand it.
Nodoka found herself at something of an impasse. On one hand, she could simply tell Ranma that he was moving home and have that be the end of it. That was fairly apparent from all the times that Ranma had posed as Ranko Tendo. He would do anything she asked just to make her happy. On the other hand, she couldn't bear to force him into something he might not want. His father had done enough meddling for a dozen parents, and she was only too aware of her son's opinion of his father. She had to make this Ranma's choice and be willing to abide by the decision he made, even if she didn't like it. Nodoka sighed wearily, 'Why dearest? Why did you destroy our son?'
-- --
She was here again. All around her was dark, but she could hear whispers ahead of her. She paid no heed to her nudity as she ran across the black plain to the source of the sounds. They always seemed to be just ahead of her, just out of earshot. As she ran, an outfit coalesced around her, stockings, a tasteful skirt and a simple, white blouse. The further she ran, the lighter it became around her and a smile lit her face as he came into view. He was always so much taller than her, and always had an open, inviting smile that shone with unwavering love. She ran up and threw herself into his strong arms and luxuriated in his presence. Before it had always bothered her that she couldn't make out his face, to see who her savior was, but tonight she didn't care as long as he was there for her. Idly she wondered if the baby was here, but perhaps her angel was safer away from her. Frowning at that thought, she remembered why the little one would be safer elsewhere and shuddered, not noticing the comforting arms loosen their embrace. She had lost control over such a little thing, and because of that her father was hurt. What if she had done that to one of her friends? How could she have lived with herself?
It was then that the whispers tickled her ears with taunts of, "Some man you are fem-boy!" and "Foolish boy! You are nothing better than a weak girl!" The volume of the whispers built to a din, jeering at her, assaulting her. Her savior was dragged away by the clawed hands of the shadows as they hissed more insults and taunts, raking her with their words. More of the shadow hands darted out and tore the clothes from her form, leaving her bare to face their taunts, and being forced to see what she had become. She fell to her knees and sobbed as she tried to cover herself from grasping claws and the words tore at her mind. The metallic whisper of a sword leaving its scabbard and slicing the air cut through the clamor. When she turned to the sound she was faced with the core of the nightmare. In all his lifeless glory he stood there, holding his once attached head at the level of his navel, his pigtail making his head appear like some macabre balloon. His accusing glare bored into her and his hollow voice announced, "You killed me …This is by YOUR hand. No man would want this." He sneered maliciously as he raised his other arm, holding another severed head by its hair.
A primal scream tore its way from Ranma's throat as he sat bolt upright in his futon. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to regain his flagging composure. 'Just a dream, nothin' to it', he thought. Convincing himself of this wasn't going as well as he would've liked.
Over time the dreams had changed, as new insanity crept into his life. The sword and his headless corpse deriding him came along when he learned of the seppuku contract. It wasn't until he arrived in Nerima that the shadows started grabbing and clawing. The infant was thanks to the Cat's Tongue fiasco, and her first period. Genma was in the nightmare the first time, and had brought the cats with him. The faceless man who his girl form ran to was the most troubling of all since, like Genma, he was there that first night after his dip at Jusenkyo. Because of the way his girl side carried on in the dream, he feared that his father's proclamation of his girlhood had taken root. The mirror clone certainly hadn't settled his dream inspired fears with the way she had carried on, chasing after any male in her vicinity. Ranma's greatest fear of the curse came by way of the emasculation it engendered, and yet bit by agonizing bit the curse was creeping in and becoming part of his self image, part of his soul. He had fought against it, roaring his declaration of masculinity to the heavens, but each day since Jusenkyo had brought him closer to becoming, at least in part, female.
Without the influence of Genma, his part-time female status may have been annoying, but acceptable. His father however, in spite of being a total failure as a parent, had successfully instilled a very deep sense of masculine identity in Ranma. Ranma's childhood often included his father goading him by saying he was a weak, useless girl. Whether Genma knew it or not, many of the children he went to school with during his younger days had heard the taunt, and picked up the banner as well. Ranma couldn't retaliate against the other kids though, if he beat them up for calling him names, Genma would just agree with them and say that he really was a girl if such a little thing could provoke him. With Genma saying something like, "No man would ever rise to that sort of bait from those weaker than him."
He shook himself from his dark thoughts. 'I kinda understand why the dreams are eatin' me up, but why Herb? Did his ol' man raise him the same way?'
A knock was heard at his door, followed by Kasumi's voice, "Ranma-kun, are you alright?"
'Figures I'd wake Kasumi up', Ranma thought bitterly, 'the one person in this house who really deserves a peaceful night's sleep.'
"Yeah Kasumi, just 'nother nightmare. No big deal." He responded.
"Would you like to talk about it Ranma-kun?"
"Nah…Just the pit again Kasumi, thanks though"
"Alright, but if you wish to talk about it, I'll be willing to listen"
"Thanks again Kasumi"
Ranma sighed softly as he heard her head off down the hall. 'Yeah Kasumi, I'd love to talk to ya, but I'd end up soundin' crazier than the Kuno's.' He chuckled bitterly at that thought, 'Yeah, ya see I was raised to be a man among men, but I've got this great guy in my dreams, and a baby, and…oh yeah, a fashion sense too. Scary part is it's only a nightmare when they take them away.' Shaking his head in disgust Ranma got up off his futon, 'Feh, some man I turned out bein'…Mom must be so proud.' He sighed as he walked down the hall to the furo, 'Why'd this hafta happen to me? I mean, jeez…Ain't it bad enough I went through the Neko-ken?' Shaking his head, 'Yeah there I go again, soundin' like a damn girl. Maybe I oughta ask Mom to go through with that whole seppuku thing, 'fore I bring more crap to the door of the clan.'
-- --
All was quiet at the Nekohanten for the moment, giving Cologne time to review the information Nabiki had dropped off for her. The elder was concerned by the account of the "sparring session" the middle Tendo had provided. 'It is as we feared. The child is starting to break down', she thought sadly. Nodding briefly to herself, "You can come out Happi, we have much to discuss." With that, the diminutive master of the Anything Goes Ryu faded into existence sitting across the table from Cologne.
"That damn, fat fool…He's practically ruined my heir!" Happosai raged.
Cologne merely nodded, "Apparently so Happi. Miss Tendo also provided us with video footage of the fight. Perhaps it will give us more insight into the situation?"
Happosai merely nodded his assent.
The video opened with a peaceful view of the koi pond in the Tendo's back yard. Suddenly a blur crashed into the pond and resolved itself to be Ranma in his cursed form. Happosai couldn't suppress a sigh at the sight of Ranma-chan with a wet shirt, and earned a knock on the head courtesy of Cologne's staff for it. "Pay attention", the Amazon hissed. Seconds later, Genma's bulky form made an appearance, laden with several buckets. 'Too bad it doesn't have audio', Cologne thought to herself. Genma started off the sparring session by tossing a bucket at the soaked redhead which she dodged. Then, while she was dodging the first bucket, he invoked the Umisenken technique to sneak up and dump the contents of another bucket directly on Ranma's head. She wiped the mud from her eyes, and was apparently saying something to Genma. Whatever it was he said, must have been the wrong thing since her face screwed up into a mask of rage and she seemingly teleported directly in front of the larger martial artist. What happened next stunned the elderly pair, and set them to rewinding the tape to review the technique Ranma had unleashed on her father. Even as they played the tape back at half speed, Ranma's foot was still a blur, darting out so quickly that the camera couldn't keep up. After they had examined the footage of the technique a few more times, they let the tape continue rolling. The camera angle switched and focused in on Ranma as she was walking to the Tendo's back porch and stayed on her as she sank to her knees and cried. Happosai paused the tape with a somber expression on his face.
"Happi?" Cologne inquired, as she surveyed her contemporary's face.
"How could I have failed with Genma so thoroughly?" he inquired. "I know I'm a pervert, I know I'm reviled for that even…But what gave him the idea that women were weak?"
Cologne simply shrugged, "The better question is, why does Ranma still think that way?"
"I don't know Cologne…There's not a female in this district that I would qualify as weak…He he, I've even got the lumps to prove it!" he cackled.
"True, but that is not our concern at the moment", she said, pointing with her cane to tear streaked face frozen on the screen, "…this is."
Happosai sobered at that, "You're right, of course…And that technique..."
She nodded, "Was an adaptation of the Kachu Tenchin Amiguriken and part of his father's Umisenken technique."
"A particularly effective adaptation at that…"
"When will you announce your intent to test her?"
"Her is it now, Cologne?" Happosai asked with a quirked eyebrow, "Know something you aren't sharing?"
"It is only a suspicion Happi", Cologne replied evasively.
"Sounds to me like it's what you want to suspect…"
"Perhaps…It would be nice to have a worthy heir", she said slumping a bit.
"And Ranma isn't worthy as a male?"
"That isn't what I'm saying at all Happi and you know it…It's just that she could accomplish many things in the tribe that no one else could, not even him."
"You know it's a moot point though, he won't go back to the village."
Cologne nodded, "But at least I could pass my techniques on to someone worthy of learning them instead of them passing into obscurity."
"So you'll continue pushing both the kiss of marriage and the kiss of death?" Happosai inquired with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.
"No Happi, there's no point in it", she said while looking at the television screen, "I'll have to find some other way to teach her."
"Mmmhmm", Happosai nodded sagely, "Is that teaching dependent upon her gender?"
"That would be his decision I suppose."
-- --
At the Tendo home, the day was progressing relatively quietly. The early afternoon sun glinted off the koi pond and seemed to radiate a sense of tranquility to the rest of the yard. The home was mostly empty, as much of the family was camped at Nerima General awaiting word of Genma's condition. Ranma, for obvious reasons, had stayed behind, and was spending much of his time sulking, in Akane's opinion. Her staying home had been a general consensus kind of thing, not that she minded. She still couldn't get her mind around what had occurred yesterday. Hence the reason the quiet surrounding the dojo was being punctuated with the sounds of bricks breaking.
She grabbed a towel, and mopped her forehead a bit with it. 'Guess it's the furo for me.' Draping the towel around her neck, she headed back into the house. 'I wonder what Ranma's doing…' she frowned at that, 'Probably sleeping knowing him.' Still, she had a nagging suspicion that there was more to yesterday's blowup than just Ranma pummeling his father for being an idiot. 'I just wish he'd talk to me.' After collecting a change of clothes from her room, she stepped out into the hall, stopping in front of the guest room door. She stood there for a few moments internally debating whether or not to knock. Akane sighed as she brought her hand down and turned to walk to the furo. From the doorway of her room, Kasumi quietly sighed as she heard Akane descending the stairs.
-- --
End Hidden Depths Chapter 2: Rising Tide